Automatic train-reporting system.



' M Elmer E. Stein AZWXZ- M By M $610111 9M No. 820,529. PATENTED MAY 15, 1906. E. E. STEINBR. AUTOMATIC TRAIN REPORTING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 10, 1905.

2 SHEETSSHEET l.

S nce/whoa PATENTED MAY 15, 1906.

E. E. STEINER.

AUIOMA'I'IG TRAIN REPORTING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION TILED JULYIO, 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

awue/wbo'c Elmer E. Steiner fi w UNrrnn PATENT orrion.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 15, 1906.

' Application filed July 10, 1905. Serial No. 269,058.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ELMER E. STEINER, a

' citizen of the United States, residing at Knightstown, in the county of Henry and each station or point whence a report is de,

sired to be received or'to which an order is desired to be transmitted. The correctness of the orders and reports is dependent upon the. ualifications and reliability of a large num er of persons.

The work also involves the loss of considerable time in the handling of trains, as each must stop at each point to which orders are transmitted for the purpose of receiving such orders, and the delays must equal the time consumed in making such stolps.

t is the object of my present invention to provide a system or apparatus by means of which all such reports will be transmitted to the central or train-despatchers ofiice automatically by the mere assage of the train itself. In connection t erewith I prefer to employ also an apparatus or system by means of which orders can be communicated to a moving train, and thus (by the use of, the two inventions) make it unnecessary for a train to stop at any point for thepurpose of receiving orders or transmitting reports. This latter system will form the subject-matter of a separate com anion application. I here make this genera statement of its character merely in order that my complete object may be understood.

The accom anying drawings illustrate an ap aratus em odying my present invention. i e l is a plan view ofa fragment of a rai way-track equipped with such apparatus and also illustrating diagrammatically a central or train-despatchers office and the electric circuits connecting such oflice and the transmission devices located adjacent to therailway-track; Fig. 2, a top or plan view of one item of such apparatus on an enlarged scale; Figs. 3 and 4, longitudinal and transverse vertical sectional views of the same on the dotted lines 3 3 and 4 4, respectively, in Fig. 2; Fig. 5, a transverse vertical sectional view across the track as seen from the osition indicated by the dotted line 5 5 a ongside Fig. 6, showing so much of a railwaytruck as is desirable to be shown in illustrating my apparatus Fig. 6, a longitudinal vertical sectional view as seen when looking in the direction indicated by the arrows from the dotted line 6 6 in Fig. 5; Fig. 7, a detail side elevation of one of the strikes attached to the railway-truck, and Fig. 8 an end elevation of the same.

The electric circuit used in carrying out my invention may be provided in any desired way. I have illustrated it as composed of a wire 21 (which may be an ordinary telegraphwire) as one side and one of the railway-rails as the other side. In Fig. 1 01 the drawings I have shown a main track composed of the rails 22 and 23 and a side track composed of the rails 24 and 25. I

I may state here that for convenience I will in this specification designate the various divisions of the road as sections and will designate the apparatus or transmission devices placed at the various division-points as section signal-boxes. It is obvious that the railway may be divided into as many of these sections as is deemed expedient, so that a report may be received from the moving trains at such intervals as is desired. For example, these section signal-boxes might, if desired, be laced one mile a art, in which case the traln-despatcher won (1 receive a report from every train at the end of each mile of its travel. In the diagrammatic illustration in Fig. 1 I have shown two sets of these section signal-boxes in connection with the main' track and one set in connection with the side track. The track is shown as broken, and one of these boxes may be understood to be that distance from the other which has been designed to be the length of a section. I have also shown one switch at the point where the side track and the main track connect and have provided in connection therewith a switch-signal box, by means of which a re port is automatically sent to the central office each time said switch is opened or closed, so that the train-despatcher may be constantly informed of the condition of the switches, as well as of the movements of the trains.

Referring now especially to Figs. 2, 3, and 4, I will proceed to describe the construction of one of the section signal-boxes, such as I have designed, as a suitable embodiment of this portion of my invention. In this signalbox are two sets of push-buttons at difierent distances from the adjacent track-rail. One set consists of a single button 31, and this is adapted to be operated by a strike carried by the train, having a multiplicity of contactpoints. The other set consists of a plurality of push-buttons. In the resent illustration I have shown three such uttons 32, 33, and 34. This set may, however, consist of any number suitable to be usedin the making of the desired signals. The push-buttons have contact-faces, with which the contact oints on the strikes carried by the train wil come in contact, and these are preferably made separable, as shown, so as to be capable of being conveniently changed or renewed. The several contact-faces 32 83 34 of the pushbuttons 32 33 34 are of varying dimensions in the direction of the travel of the train, so that the duration of the contact will be variable, the result being to cause the apparatus to transmit electrical impulses of varying lengths, producing dots and dashes at the receiving-station. At each station also I provide two of these boxes, preferably arranged, as shown in Fig. 1, one near each side of the track, that upon one side being designed to transmit the signals from trains running in one direction and that upon the other side being designed to transmit the signals from trains running in the other direction.

Assuming now that in the code adopted one dot and two dashes indicates the number 28, the illustration therefore would show the apparatus as provided at the station or section signal boxes numbered 28. A strike having a single-pointed contact-face being provided at the proper point on the train, said strike as the train passes will come in contact successively with the ush-buttons 32, 33, and 34, and this num er 28 will be transmitted to the central or receiving station with unerring accuracy and absolute certaint the operation of said push-buttons being w en actuated the usual one of closing the electrical circuit. I have shown the other strike on the train as having a contactface embodying two long and one short point, and thus adapted to make two dashes and one dot. Assuming these symbols in the code adopted to indicate number 51, these strike-points coming in contact with the push-button 31 will likewise transmit the number of the train with the same certainty and accuracy, so that the train-despatcher will know beyond peradventure the exact moment at which train No. 51 has passed Station No. 28. As even-numbered trains (under approved systems of railroading) al- .ways travel in one direction and odd-numbered trains always travel in the o posite direction, the train-despatcher will l now positively not only the time of the passing and the number of the train, but also the direction in which said train is traveling.

A connection in the form of a branch from the wire 21 leads to one of the terminals or members of the push-buttons of each section or switch signal-box, and the other members or terminals of said push-buttons are connected to the other side of the electrical circuit-generally one of the railwaytrack rails. The central station is also connected to both sides of the electrical circuit and is equipped with a battery 26 and a receiver 27.

As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the push-button is held to its open position by means of a coiled spring surrounding the stem of the button and interposed between suitable surfaces thereon and the adjacent structure. This spring is designed to be stifi' enough to resist t e force of anything which would ordinarily come upon it, such as the weight of a person or animal who might accidentally step thereon, but which Will be easily compressed by the pressure exerted by the strike attached to the railway-train.

The railway equipment including the truck is of an ordinary and well-known form and needs no special description. To a suitable point on the truck I secure the strike-arms 41 and 42. These may be permanent eXce t as to their immediate contact portions or faces 43 and 44, which, as shown in Figs. 7 and 8, can be disconnected at will by simply disengaging the connecting devices, as pins 45, by means of which they are-held to the main portions. They can thus be easily removed when worn out and replaced or changed from time to time to indicate different numbers, acccord ing to the exigencies of the service.

Having thus fully described my said invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An automatic train -reporting system comprising an electrical circuit, a duplex series of push-buttons at the station, and a duplex set of strikes on the train.

2. An automatic train-reporting system comprising an electrical circuit, a duplex set of push-buttons at the station, and a duplex set of'strikes on the train, one set of the pushbuttons consisting of a single button and the other set of a plurality of buttons, and one of the strikes on the train having a plurality of contacts and the other strike having a single contact.

3. In an automatic train-reporting system, a section signal-box containing two sets of push-buttons, one set consistin of a single utton and the other set consisting of a plurality of buttons, and strikes carried by the hand and Seal, at Indianapolis, Indiana, this train adapted to contact with and operate d h b h h 5th day of July, A. D. 1905.

sai pus uttons as t e train passes,w ereby two signals (o'ne indicating the train and ELMER STEINER' 5 the other the station) are transmitted by the Witnesses:

passage of the train. CHESTER BRADFORD, In witness whereof I have hereunto set my JAMES A. WALSH. 

